Howard Lee Rheingold has authored numerous works, includiing The Virtual Community (1993), Smart Mobs (2002), and Net Smart (2012), among other books. He has taught at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

a group of people, who may or may not meet one another face to face, who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin board systems (BBSs) and other digital networks. The first use of the term virtual community appeared in a 1987 article written by Howard Rheingold for The Whole Earth Review. In The Virtual Community (1993), Rheingold expanded on his article to offer the following definition: Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace. This article and book are cited as the foundational works of cyberculture studies. Many subsequent commentators have contested Rheingold’s use of the word community and the terminology used to describe the technosocial phenomena of persistent computer-mediated relationships; social media and participatory media are also used to describe a very broad variety...

Smart Mobs takes us on a journey around the world for a preview of the next techno-cultural shift. The coming wave, says Rheingold, is the result of super-efficient mobile communications-cellular phones, wireless-paging, and Internet-access devices-that will allow us to connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere.Rheingold offers a penetrating perspective on the new convergence of pop culture, cutting-edge technology, and social activism. He also reminds us that the real impact of mobile communications...

Howard Rheingold has been called the First Citizen of the Internet. In this book he tours the "virtual community" of online networking. He describes a community that is as real and as much a mixed bag as any physical community -- one where people talk, argue, seek information, organize politically, fall in love, and dupe others. At the same time that he tells moving stories about people who have received online emotional support during devastating illnesses, he acknowledges a darker side to people's...

Like it or not, knowing how to make use of online tools without being overloaded with too much information is an essential ingredient to personal success in the twenty-first century. But how can we use digital media so that they make us empowered participants rather than passive receivers, grounded, well-rounded people rather than multitasking basket cases? In
Net Smart, cyberculture expert Howard Rheingold shows us how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully....